Bill and Pattye Bomash had heard the warnings about why parents shouldn’t lend money to their grown children. How it keeps them dependent. How it inflames family tension. How it robs your retirement. How you’ll never see the cash again.

Falling stocks are roadblocks to a comfortable retirement. At times like this, when the path looks especially rocky, it’s tempting to reduce your regular contributions to a 401(k) portfolio or other automatic investment plan.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The widening subprime credit crisis that's crashing down on Wall Street has sent panicked investors flocking to the safety of Treasury bonds, but the lifeboats are getting packed.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Stocks today are more volatile than they've been in years. January's wild weeks and February's broken-heart start are signs that new market leadership is emerging and old mainstays are losing steam. It's time for you to change with the times.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Jim Kuhns saw the value of a $2,000 investment in a small Colorado bank swell to $176,000 in about 25 years, but for the Sonoma, Calif., retiree the financial windfall blew in like a hurricane.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Charity often begins away from home, in the form of selling highly appreciated investments and using the profits to fund worthy causes. Most donations in fact are made in cash.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- To believe the sober polls and somber press, today's young Americans are self-centered and coddled, tuned in to iTunes and tuned out to "I Give." If this wireless but disconnected group had a collective one-liner, it would be, "But enough about me. What do you think of me?"

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- At a time when the coolest electronic gadgets are branded with a self-centered "i," it's no wonder that so many kids and adults believe they're entitled to the best, latest, hippest, greatest -- and to have it first.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Feeling whipsawed by this market? It's times like these when a diversified portfolio is supposed to pay off. But with so many exotic choices out there, it's hard to know what diversification really means.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- On Graduation Day there was pomp. Now comes circumstance. As the members of the Class of 2007 make their way into the work force, they are going to confront a test harder than any of their final exams: how to safeguard their own futures.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A wealthy-looking father, dressed in a tailored business suit, grasps the arm of his teenaged child and tells him about a fact of life: "Son," he says, "you're all grown up now. You owe me two hundred and fourteen thousand dollars."

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Scott Kays has spent what he estimates to be about 700 hours scaling the investment profession's equivalent of Mt. Everest, yet he's no more than two-thirds of the way there.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Most veteran value investors have a story about the stock they wished they had let get away. The shares looked attractive and the company's worst troubles seemed behind it. But instead of a quick fix, they got quicksand; the stock languished, a waste of money and time.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Successful investing is all about avoiding mistakes. That doesn't mean playing it safe. It means having good sense about when to take risk and knowing how much risk to take.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- For many parents, talking about money with their teenagers begins and ends with "How much do you need?" Of course, the financial facts of life are more complicated and, like that other Big Talk, the sooner you and your kids have it, the better.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The hard tumble that U.S. stocks took late last month was certainly a wake-up call for complacent investors who'd grown accustomed to uninterrupted monthly gains. A louder alarm, however, may be coming from a market event that didn't happen: Not a single high-yield bond issuer defaulted in February, the first time that's occurred in at least seven years.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks have gained 15% this year, international stocks are almost 25% higher and U.S. bonds are up about 5%. By any measure, it's been an extraordinary time for investors.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- If you've ever subscribed to investment newsletters or received their solicitations, you know these publications can make bold promises about how their advice will beat the market.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use. Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only. Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.